The stench burned down his throat.

He clenched his jaw, barely stopping himself from vomiting.

Enduring it, he covered his mouth and rolled away from the stench.

A bad decision, as he slammed against something.

Things blurred around him as he once again heard the annoying shout.

[Professor, now with the Lions losing their third big city in a row, do you think they could bounce back?

Well, it is not impossible to defend, but I don’t think anyone will sponsor them anymore.

But professor, the Lion guild has a big role in the Maraid city property. Shouldn’t the city government need to support them?

Well, you are not wrong. The loss of the lion has already caused a billion credit loss to the city, I don’t think the city will have any more funds...]

"Shut up!" Ray shouted in irritation.

Squinting, he looked up.

There, at the other end of the room, a big screen kept playing live coverage of two men shouting at each other.

He tried to reach toward the remote, but even that small movement made his vision blur.

He almost opened his mouth, but managed to control it at the last moment.

The pain almost blacked him out.

Especially the one from his chest.

He looked down, only to choke when he noticed a massive fist-sized blue mark right in the center of his chest.

Just then, a memory flashed through of him running from that mess. Multiple footsteps were chasing behind him.

Then that cold metal pressed against his forehead.

And the loud click echoed within his head.

Panicked, he touched his forehead.

’Sticky! Is that blood?’

He looked down at his hand but did not find any redness. Instead, it was some sort of fruity liquid.

boy’s phone.

"Oh, sorry." The boy immediately closed his phone.

Ray pointed at him. "How come you get these old messages?"

This time, the boy tilted his head. "Dude, I am Aren, your dorm mate. And what old messages? These were from today."

"What!"

Now a little accustomed to the pain, Ray swiped his phone.

His eyes moved to the corner of the screen.

The date froze him.

23-Sep-2053.

Ray blinked. ’2053. That can’t be.’

He turned to show the boy. "See, the date is so wrong."

Aren tilted his head. "Did you hit your head? Dude, today is September 23rd."

Ray pointed to the year. "No, look at the year—"

He froze halfway.

’How come the phone’s color changed to blue?’

He twisted his phone around and stared wide-eyed.

’Wait, isn’t this my old phone? Even the crack on the side is similar.’

Thump! Thump!

His heartbeat spiked.

Still not believing it, he frantically searched on his phone.

’Zenaris Online.’

The moment he typed it, multiple threads opened.

He tapped the most popular one, and another video popped up.

[A woman in a green dress with a smile.

"Good morning, everyone. Today, on the third anniversary of Zenaris Online, we have news for you all..."]

Adder took a deep breath and said out aloud. "Upgrade the dungeon."

[Warning!!

Levelling up the dungeon would reduce the protection time in half. (proceed/ Cancel.)

]

"Proceed"

Boom!

The very moment a bright purple light flashed through the whole dungeon, blinding him in the process.

After a couple of seconds, Adder managed to see again.

He instantly turned to the Xarik.

The wing on the little guy grew a bit, though most everything else remained the same.

Adder checked around the dungeon master’s room, but most of it remained the same.

The very moment a bunch of notifications popped up before him.

Ding!

[Congratulations to player Adder for upgrading his dungeon.]

[

<Dungeon Status>

Dungeon level -> 2

Dungeon floors -> 2/5

Boss monster -> 0/5

Capacity -> 0/17,000.

Fund -> 1 gold, 2 silver, 7 copper.

]

[ Title upgrade: Master of Serpent Cave -> Master of Serpent Cave II]

.. .

[

Level 2 dungeon core detected -> Void village upgrade!

Ideal Time difference increases 1/10 -> 1/24.

]

Ding!

[ Congratulations to player Adder, your dungeon has taken root in the world.]

[You have gained the skill ’Cold Aura body’.]

[Cold Aura Body (Active): The blood within your body turns cold, granting you the adaptability of a monstrous serpent.

Effect: Allows temporary redistribution between Strength and Intelligence attributes during activation.

The amount shifted can be adjusted freely according to the user’s will.

Duration: 5 minutes.

Warning: Each forced redistribution places strain on the body, reducing the remaining active duration by 30 seconds until recovery.

Cooldown: 12 Hours.]

Suddenly the entire dungeon started to shake.

Adder stared up as the ceiling cracked open.

Ding!

[Player Adder proved his capability and has opened the parth of PRIMAL evolution.]

Before he could react the world spun around him as he blacked out.

...

A soothing wind hid his face as Adder opened his eyes. He found himself floating up along the cloud.

He instantly looked down only to see massive endless barren land with dust rolling around.

Right at the center of the land stood a vibrant silver stone tower with a bit of grass around it.

Adder sucked in deep breath. ’It about to start.’

That very moment as if the world came alive the barren land started to shift.

First the patches of small trees grew all around the land which soon expanded into the massive grassland with foot long thick grass that moved along the wind.

The central part of the grassland grew up into massive mountains through which multiple crystal clear rivers started to flow all around the land.

At the left edge the ground tumbled down allowing all the river water to gather there changing the entire area to a massive ocean.

The right part grew some massive volcanoes which burst from time to time.

Right at this moment small life started to appear in the rainforest before the snowy mountains.

Small creatures started jumping across the grass land with the oceans becoming full of vibrant creatures.

A few of them even started using a bit of magic. In all this he focused on the group of small white snakes living in the grassland closest to the silver tower.

These little things were barely a few inches long and only eat small insects.

He got to see the one female snake laying a group of soft eggs. She struggled to protect the weak life of her babies.

But her maternal instinct did last long as she left her egg just before they hatched.

The good thing was the abandoned snake eggs hatched fast with the little one scattering around struggling to hunt their first prey.

The weak one died within a few days with less than half of them reaching their adulthood.

Even in adulthood the little snakes were too small to protect themself just hand full of them survived to their adult hood.

Not after the old snake started dying one by one with the new generation already taking their place.

Adder continued to see the endless cycle of life and death with the number of snakes increasing with each cycle.

With each next generation snakes started shift slowly. Some became larger, others started to have all short of sport on their body.

As the concentration of mana increased in every generation there were few who started using magic.

Lost it the time, a soothing sound resonated in his consciousness. < God has the power to create life. >

As if acknowledging the truth every creature on land, sea and air screamed in union.

This snapped him awake as the voice continued. < The gods also hold the power of destroying it. >

The very moment the entire land started shaking. All the volcanos burst out and spread magma all over the ground.

From the left massive waves of tsunami struck the ground and destroyed generations of progress.

Instantly thousands of snakes died to the point that he struggled to even find a single alive snake. It was way worse than other creatures. A few near the volcanoes even went extinct.

Soon the silence returned to the land as the world started to recover.

< The beauty of life was god gave it the power to evolve.>

It was then Adder saw a few snakes this time scatter all across the land. Some survived by digging deeper into the ground. Other by swimming along the waves.

A few even manage to survive next to the frozen magma. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A few lucky ones survived where it all began, each group starting their own new cycle.

This time the new generation started to have much higher changes to adapt to their new environment.

The voice continued. [ These creatures you see before you are but a small fraction of the beauty and diversity of life. The gods created these creatures, and he has given them the power to create and destroy. To bring beauty and wonder, but also to bring destruction and chaos. This is the Power of Creation. ]

As the voice said, the once peaceful land entered another turmoil. It was as if the destruction had triggered the hidden growth potential all the creatures started using element magic.